Foreword Heart disease respects no boundaries or geographic limitations. It occurs in every nation of the world, in both sexes, in all races, and in every stratum of society. It is one of the most formidable of all international health problems. Why, then, should not research on heart disease also be pursued on an international basis? This monograph, "Coronary Circulation in the Normal and the Pathologic Heart," by Giorgio Baroldi, M.D., and Giuseppe Scomazzoni, M.D., represents such an effort. This work, which is the product of 10 years of research on the part of the senior author, was initiated in the Institute of Morbid Anatomy at the University of Milan, in Milan, Italy (Director, Professor Alfonso Giordano, M.D.), where Dr. Baroldi is an Assistant Professor on the University staff. There, with the cooperation of Dr. Scomazzoni, the injection technique was developed, and the hearts were cast, studied, and photographed. The final phase of the work was completed at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C. (Director, Brig. Gen. Joe M. Blumberg, USA), where Dr. Baroldi worked under the auspices of a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cardiovascular Pathology from the National Institutes of Health. The injection of the blood vessels of an organ, particularly the heart, is an old, wellrespected method of study which has been utilized for many years in the study of the coronary circulation. The method of study is not new, but Dr. Baroldi and Dr. Scomazzoni have employed new injectable substances, Geon and Neoprene. Because of their particulate sizes, these substances can gain access to even the smallest of vessels, where they form a mold of the vascular lumen; and since Geon and Neoprene undergo little if any shrinkage during solidification, they reproduce an accurate cast of the vascular system. In this study, over 500 hearts have been injected and casts obtained from the arterial or venous systems by corroding the injected specimens with hydrochloric acid. The casts have been meticulously examined and photographed, and the findings are carefully recorded. The world literature on this subject has also been assembled and reviewed. Comparisons with the findings of comparable studies have been made, and the differences and similarities are noted. From this study has evolved a large amount of basic information on the coronary circulation in both normal and diseased hearts, information which should be of extreme interest and value to all students of medicine, particularly the cardiologist, roentgenologist, cardiac surgeon, and pathologist. We are proud to have been associated with the University of Milan in the important work which has resulted in the publication of this excellent study. LEONARD D. HEATON, |